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NHIAA Wrestling Championships: Timberlane earns 18th title in 19 years

Timberlane's Noah Beaulieu, left, and Pinkerton Academy's Cam Macro battle in their 285lbs. semfinal bout at the NHIAA Div. I wrestling championships at Londonderry High School Saturday. Beaulieu won 5-2 to move into the finals. (Mark Bolton/Union Leader)

LONDONDERRY - Your alarm each weekday morning may be one of the few things more consistent than the Timberlane Regional High School wrestling program.

The Owls earned 254.5 points and were by far the best team at Saturday's Division I meet at Londonderry High School. It was Timberlane 18th Division I title in the last 19 years. Concord was the runner-up with 192.5 points, and Salem finished third with 145.

Timberlane had the top-seeded wrestler in five of the 14 weight classes and produced three individual champions: Barrett Kappler (120 pounds), Connor McGonagle (132) and Justin Berube (152).

McGonagle was the 126-pound champion at last year's Division I meet, the Meet of Champions and the New England championships. He is ranked seventh nationally in his weight class.

"It's all about the team - that's what coach Choo (Timberlane coach Barry Chooljian) really preaches," McGonagle said. "We're shooting for a New England title. A different team may have a different perspective on the tournament. Here it's very team-oriented because we've won it for so many years we want to keep winning it, obviously."

"It's fitting for him to win the D1 title and be the MOW," Londonderry coach Jason Cucolo said. "He's had a lot of tough matches all year. We wrestled out of state a lot and it seemed like he always had one of the toughest weight classes. I think it prepared him well."

McLaughlin, a sophomore, won his first state title by pinning Timberlane's Dylan Tremblay, last year's Division I champion at 170 pounds. McLaughlin finished as the runner-up to Concord's George Tarwo at 182 pounds in the 2017 Division I meet.

"This is awesome," McLaughlin said. "This is what I worked for all year. I was expecting (Tremblay) in the finals, I got him and I did what I had to do. That was one of my better wins. First state title in high school."

Timberlane's Noah Beaulieu won two matches to reach the 285-pound final, but was pulled from his match against Francis because of sickness. Francis won by injury default.

"Beaulieu was really, really sick," Chooljian said. "We literally dragged him out of bed and brought him here, and he didn't have anything but gutted it out and got to the finals before we had to pull him. The job he did to help us really made a big difference. He really manned up. I'm proud of the resiliency he showed. He went the full six minutes in his semifinal, and after that match I decided he wouldn't wrestle (in the championship). He was really sick."

The top six finishers in each weight class earned an invitation to the Meet of Champions, which will be held Saturday at Nashua South. The Meet of Champions will also include the top five wrestlers in each weight class from the Division II meet, and the top three wrestlers in each weight class from the Division III meet.

Timberlane had 14 wrestlers - one in each weight class - advance to the Meet of Champions.

"Proud of my guys," Chooljian said. "This is step 1. Obviously next week is very important to us."

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